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Campaign 2012

I wish Mitt Romney was more forthcoming. I wish he would release his tax returns sooner rather than later. There is no question that he will eventually release all of his returns; if he doesn’t he will not be elected President. He’s a smart guy, he’ll figure that out but his credibility will continue to take a hit until he does.

I wish Mitt Romney didn’t have bank accounts in foreign countries. I’m no financial wizard but I’m pretty sure there are very few reasons for an American citizen to do that and none of them would make the average person feel too good about Mitt Romney.

But I have no issue with Mitt Romney’s former ownership stake in Bain Capital. He took over the mess that was the Olympic Games in 1999. That’s easy, easy, easy to verify. The games were a disaster and the International Olympic Committee was considering stripping the United States of the games. Mitt Romney stepped in and literally rescued the games. It was indisputably a heroic effort. It was also a very full-time job. There was no time to manage Bain Capital. As is often the case, he remained an officer (on leave) of the company after leaving the active decision making process. He simply did not have time to participate in day to day, month to month or year to year decisions.

What he had to do however was sign off on various SEC paperwork. It is fairly common for officers no longer involved in day to day operations to fulfill that government requirement. I had lunch last week with a former Fortune 100 CEO who said he signed similar forms for a couple of years after he retired, simply because of his former position in the organization. I certainly don’t understand all the SEC regulations around reporting (I can’t imagine any one person could) but I do know that what Mitt Romney did was an accepted business practice. It was acceptable to the SEC and it was acceptable to the Federal Accounting Standards Board.

President Obama knows that too, so do many of the lawyers that work in his campaign. They also understand that while it doesn’t look too good, there is absolutely nothing illegal about it. They understand as well that most Americans have no understanding of the SEC, their tons and tons of regulations or any of the government accounting standards.

They appear to be using those two “circumstances” to mislead the American public. Intentionally. Speaking half-truths in an attempt to mislead potential voters. Claiming Mitt Romney is a felon or a liar is as disingenuous as any political campaign in the history of the United States. (Yes, I am familiar with the Presidency of Richard Nixon)

The Obama Campaign, and likely even President Obama himself are lying to the American public in an attempt to smear Mitt Romney. That does a great disservice to the American people.

This is a long campaign; in it’s somewhat early stages. I’d like to know what these two guys plans are to fix the problems of the United States.

We deserve detailed plans!

We the People of The United States of America (remember, one of these guys works for us and the other one wants to) have the right to know that.

We don’t need our current employee blaming the guy before him and we don’t need our job applicant telling us the current guy has failed and that’s why he deserves a chance. To blame the guy before you, after 3-1/2 years is ridiculous, saying you’re qualified because the guy that currently holds the office has failed is even more ridiculous.

How about a real discussion around the actual issues of the day? How about showing some authentic leadership. We’ve seen nothing that looks like authentic leadership in this campaign from the incumbent President, and it’s been a while since Governor Romney has displayed any either.

We deserve better than this campaign has given us so far, maybe someone should tell these guys that we’re not as dumb as they think we are. We the People of The United States of America should use every form of media available to inform both President Obama and Mitt Romney that they need to have a serious discussion befitting someone that wants to hold high office in this great country.